The work of later hands, added to a plate after the artist’s death, does not concern us; but the development of the etching up to that state when the artist leaves it as a finished thing, must interest us greatly. How are we to decide?
In the case of Ostade, we are helped a little by external data. As we
Fig. 8.—Peasant paying his Reckoning. By Ostade. B. 42.
have seen, the plates were sold at his death in 1685. We know also that they were sold again by their new possessor, Dirk van der Stoel, Ostade’s son-in-law, in 1686; and eight years later again, in 1694. What state they were in then we can only conjecture: but we may infer something from what we know to have been their state in 1710 or a little later.
In the year just mentioned a French engraver, Bernard Picart, arrived in Holland; and some time after his arrival he published a collection of the etched work of Ostade and of his pupil Bega. The book of Ostade’s etchings was bought, perhaps on its publication, by Hans Sloane: and through him it has passed into the possession of the British Museum. Whoever examines it will notice at once the inequality of the plates: some are worn and harshly retouched, some are passable, a few are even good. Something of this is due to the delicately-worked plates, giving out sooner than those more coarsely etched. Probably also some were more in demand than others. Thus, to take a few examples: while The Painter in His Studio (B. 32) is in the tenth and last state, and Peasant Paying His Reckoning (B. 42) is in the seventh or last but one, The Dance in the Tavern (B. 49) is in the fourth out of seven states in all, and The Empty Jug (B. 15) in the fourth out of eight states in all. And several of the smaller plates are still in the second state.
In determining therefore the extent to which later hands have worked on the etchings, each must be considered separately. Only in a few cases, probably, are those in Picart’s edition still in the condition left by the master himself; and most seem to have been retouched more than once. Every one will judge for himself the precise point at which new work comes in: and opinion will always differ on such questions. As Ostade was not always successful in his first biting, the second state is generally the most representative. Peasant Paying His Reckoning is a very different thing in Picart’s edition from the brilliant second state of the same etching.
The student of Ostade will find Dutuit’s book[2] indispensable: it contains all that was known of the etchings and their different impressions up to the year of its publication. And the author’s own collection was perhaps unrivalled. Nevertheless, it is not perfect. The states are described with an extraordinary superfluity of detail, and the one or two differentiating circumstances are buried in a mass of irrelevant description. Verification is therefore a matter of time and labour.
There are also a few states still undescribed. Still, for those who have an appetite for “states,” Dutuit is very satisfying.
